The Appetitive Human Faculties

Everything has an inclination towards what accords with its nature; this inclination or tendency is called appetency or appetite. Things that lack knowledge have naturalappetency only; this is exampled in the tendency of a plant to grow, of a body to cohere, of a stone to fall to the ground. Living bodies that have knowledge (animals and men) have, in addition to natural appetency, tendencies that are roused in them by their knowing, by their cognition; these are cognitional appetites. Cognitional appetency is of two orders: the order of sense, and the order of intellect. Sentient or sensitive appetencyinclines animal or man towards what is sensed as good or desirable,and away from what is sensed as evil or harmful. Intellectualappetency inclines intelligent creatures (angels and men) towards what is intellectually understood as good, and away from what is understood as evil. The intellectual appetency or appetite is called the will.

The will is a faculty distinct from the sentientappetite, for it belongs to the intellective order, not the sensitive order. These two appetites sometimes conflict, as, forexample, when a Catholic has hunger (i.e., sentient appetite) form eat on Friday, but wills not to eat it.